Ztampfilicious

As luck would have it, my dear brother gifted me an iPhone for my birthday. Yes, it was quite a while ago – it was a belated gift. But when the gift is an iPhone, you wouldn’t complain, would you? :) My old Nokia happened to be dying at that time too, so it was well timed! Frankly, I almost never use it for phone calls. But one of the things I do use a lot is taking photos with my iPhone!

Two of the photography apps that I most often use are Hipstamatic and Instagram. They make taking cool looking photos very easy and fun with their arrays of photo edges and filters. This has inspired me to create this set that I named Hipstagramix in homage to the source of the inspiration.

Your photos will look instantly hip with the brand new Ztampf! Hipstagramix Grunge Set! Currently this product is hidden in the shop – only those with the link could access it (click the preview image below). Aaaaand, just for you: an Early Bird Coupon to get this set at just $1.99 instead of $2.99! Use this coupon code at checkout: EARLYHIPSTER. Valid through this weekend only, so don’t wait up too long or you’ll miss out!

This Hipstagramix Grunge provides you with 6 photo-edges/borders + 6 photo overlays + 6 custom drop shadows + a square clipping mask for the photo (5″x5″). Mix and match these elements and you will get a variety of awesome ‘filters’. Combine two or more overlays with two or more borders, you’ll get even more! Play with the opacity levels and layer blending mode – the possibilities are endless! You’ll have fun using this set and you’ll love how it transform your photos!

This Hipstagramix Grunge is just the first of the series, so watch out for more soon!

To our newest Z!Girl, Carin Van Kuijk from the Netherlands! I’m sure most of you have known her as CarinPixel in forums and galleries as she an active scrappers who always ready to comment and help others.

I would like you all to get to know her. She is one of my long time customers – a very good one too! And she scraps delightful and eclectic pages that I’m sure you would find inspiring. She has been a Z!Guest too when we used to have the spot regularly. I am so happy that she’s joining us here at Ztampfilicious Team! You can take a peek at her new Z!Gallery here, and also here at her oldie but goodie Z!Guest Album. And now… let’s start interviewing her so we’ll get to know her even better!

Q: Please tell us a bit about yourself!
Carin: I’m a 36 years old chocolate-holic mom, I’ve got 3 official teens in the house now, Jeroen my oldest is a musician in the making, Esmee my beloved DD is 14 and she’s the artist in the family, and Aranka just turned 10 last week and she’s the little house dragon. Every bad habbit of the oldest 2 are combined in her. When I was younger I loved to draw, make little fantasy dragons and such with Clay, making fantasy books with modgepodge, clay, paint and everything else I could get my hands on. After Aranka was born I struggled with my colons a lot, some hospital errors later they removed my gall bladder, but sadly it didn’t do much good. Until this day I struggle with colon problems and some days are better then others and that keeps me bound at home a lot of times.

Q: What is your mostest favorite thing to do?
Carin: Spending time with my children, my family, my husband and discovering the world little by little. When I was growing up, we didn’t go on vacations outside the Netherlands. The first time I ever set step outside our own country was with my husband. I remember spending a lot of time in the car to go to Spain, and usually I sleep inside the car. This time I didn’t sleep for a minute, the big sunflower fields, the castles, the amazing huge parking areas along the roads, the views and wow the mountains between France and Spain. I knew that minute I wanted to see the entire world!

Q: Any favorite food/drinks you can’t live without?
Carin: A yellow bag of M&M’s is a standard in my shopping cart, I can not go without them, need them, want them, crave them always. Next to that I can not go without a large latte machiatto at my favorite coffee shop Merz, I think I’m there at least 4 times a week!

Q: How about music/songs or books – what are you into these days?
Carin: Make a guess…okay that’s not fair, actually I’m a metal chick….I love Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Guns N roses, well not the new trashed metal like slipknot that’s too much for me I like them singing not grunting. I also love a little gothic like within temptation. As far as reading goes, my collection contains nothing but fantasy, Christopher Paolini, omg did he really write Eragon on such a young age? He can become HUGE! R Feist, Bernard Hennen, and offcourse Tolkien, oh those hobbitses and those hairy feet.

Q: What is your favorite subject to scrap about?
Carin: Well if you look at my gallery it says my own children and that is almost correct, however I love to scrap daily live, vacations and my project 365.
And uhm I have a secret never shown stash of… ‘toiletscrap’. I can see your wondering ‘toiletscraps’? well I allready said I have colon problems, and it basicly means whenever I have to go, I NEED to go and that brings me in quite a few toilets. Some are amazingly decorated others are very, very, very dirty. I remember an iron toilet in Barcelona and in Rome we had a kind of shuffling system that was very YUCKY. In Egypt at the Piramides I really needed to go and got a bucket of water with me to wash and flush. That toilet received a -10. I take pictures of those toilets and collect them and scrap about the toilets and give them a rate, 1 being bad, 10 being excellent. LOL.

Q: How did you first find out about digital scrapbooking? Did you paper-scrapbook before?
Carin: Well I think it was old style scrapping I did, saving receipts, tickets, brochures of places we visited and glued them in albums together with photos I cropped and chopped and torn apart. In 2006 somebody introduced me to digital scrapbooking and well that got me hooked!.

Q: What do you love most about digital scrapbooking?
Carin: Well it keeps my room tidy, no mess after scrapping AND there’s an undo button! Besides that when your done with a page and get it printed, inside an album or lose pages or whatever, you have a great memory to share and show others.

Q: Why do you want to be in a creative team? What do you love most about it? Any tips for being a good CTM?
Carin: Well off course if you’re on a creative team it saves you some money. But that is not my main reason; there are designers out there that I really love and adore, I love quality and uniqueness in a kit and I am truly fed up with all the CU items sold everywhere because it gives a lot of kits the same look. Since I do foremost make pages to record memories for my family and future ancestors, I only want to CT for a designer if I know the designs will fit my own needs as well. I think as a CTM your love for the designs itself is enough to make great pages for designers. And next to that I off course play the praise, take a look at ISO threads and enable when fitting. I know as a former Z!Guest that Ztampf! designs are 1 of a kind for sure, and I actually bought quite a lot and well being a Z!Girl has always been 1 of my ‘goals’. So now I can get that out of my 1001 things to do in my lifetime!

Q: How do you manage your time between being your own person, a mother, a wife, a scrapper and a Z!Girl – among tons of other things?
Carin: What other things? Do you really mean to tell me there’s more besides scrapping and family? Kidding off course, well I’m fortunate to still be able to be a SAHM and do volunteers work. I just make time to scrap in the morning hours when everyone is off to school and work. And in the evening, because basically TV only shows stupid stuff. I scrap at least 1 page per day, it is my therapy, my fix, my need. It keeps me a happy mom and wife, and my kids and DH all love a happy me.

Q: How/when did you first find out about Ztampf! – if you remember it? What first attracted you to Ztampf!?
Carin: November 2006 I started scrapping and my first home was SBB, I remember Fhung was selling there as well and I joined in a party chat and won a coupon for Ztampf!. I was in love right away – the rich colors, the unique elements and wonderful fasteners, it all just fitted my style right away!

Q: How/where did you learn digital scrapbooking? Best way/place to hone in your digi-skills?
Carin: Well it was at SBB where I started and learned to create pages, I love the tutorials they have there. I involved in challenges colors and templates, and to me that is a great way of exploring ideas, giving you other options to do things and so on.

Q: What program do you use to scrap with? Is there any certain scrapping tools that you found yourself using again and again?
Carin: I scrap in Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 and that it is.

Q: What is your ideal scrapping time/space would be? Any certain gadgets/programs you are coveting right now?
Carin: Hmmm the ideal space would be a room where no sound from outside could get in, no screaming kids, no TV noise, yeah that would be scrapheaven. And off course a nice printer that could do canvas and large paper sizes. And I really need to sort my photos, my EHD crashed and I have recovered almost all photos, but they are all renamed in lost file with loads of numbers. Sadly I lost most scrapping supplies. Also if a faerie could magically sort my photos again that would be amazing!

Q: What is the single most useful scrapping technique you found so far?
Carin: Extracting, blending and playing with layers, I love that!

Q: What do you love most about Ztampf! products?
Carin: Well I stated earlier that I love quality and uniqueness, and that counts for everything Ztampf! And off course I do have favorites. The sparkle spray overlays are so versatile and pretty.
I think I used them for over a year on almost every layout. And off course, what’s a page without a good stitched photo, and these truly are the best I ever found! And these wandering soul pendants and pins, I just adore them I would really love such a pendant in real live, they look so pretty.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Carin – isn’t she fun! I’m also so looking forward to see more her ztampfilicious layouts!

Today I want to share with you about Baby Ella! I first heard about her from a fellow SBG Designer, Wendy who is organizing a super special Life is Precious grab bag to help. Many of SBG Designers – including me – are contributing something into this super special grab bag: there are mini kits, quickpages, clusters, bits and pieces and coupons! My contribution consists of a little something that is new and not available yet in the store, plus two coupons! This is such a good deal for a worthy cause!

Here’s the details from Wendy:

Ella Hollingsworth is a very special girl, with a very special family. You can read about her family, their journey and their needs on the Hollingsworth blog. A few of my designer friends were touched by Ella’s story and wanted to help, so we got together and created a small grab bag of products and coupons. It’s not much, but it’s free to anyone who donates ANY AMOUNT directly to Ella’s fund at tendoves.org. Your contribution will be tax-deductible since you are donating directly.

Just send me (wendy at scrapbookgraphics { dot } com) a copy of your receipt (minus any private information) by FEBRUARY 28th, 2011, and I will send you a direct download link to the Life is Precious grab bag on MARCH 1st. The grab bag is still receiving contributions, but will include AT LEAST 5 minikits, 1 paper collection, 7 QPs, 1 mini album, templates & coupons to a variety of designers.
Thank you for supporting Baby Ella and her family!

Go ahead and do something good today :)

This has been an unusually cold winter for Hong Kong and I long for warmth!

As some of you might knew already, I make ceramics. My main medium is porcelain which is fired to 1280ºC (2,336ºF) and the firing typically runs for 18 hours. It started out pretty dark, with faintly glowing embers which then burst forth with bright orange light, bringing with it the warmth. As the temperature rises, the light became paler and paler until it’s almost white when the temperature reaches 1000ºC (1,832ºF).Firing ceramic is perfect during winter: it gets the work done while warms up the surrounding space :). Recently I did a firing and it’s resulting not only in fired porcelain, but also in a set of Paper Pack!

So let’s cuddle up in the warmth of this Furnace Paper Pack! The papers are inspired by the progress of both warmth and light inside a kiln or a furnace. These papers are wonderful to scrap a variety of subjects/themes, from contemplative to festive, from thoughtful journaling-rich pages to passionate Valentine’s love expressions.

Available now at Studio Ztampf!:

And here are some pictures from the firing session:

This HongBao Rabbit Envelopes Set contains 6 designs/templates for ‘Hong Bao’ (‘Red Pockets’ or ‘Lai See’ for Chinese New Year) to help you create beautiful and totally unique ‘Hong Bao’ this coming Chinese New Year! This set is created mostly with the new Year of The Rabbit Kit (coming soon!). The preview just doesn’t do justice to the rich fine details and colors of the actual files. You can see the larger, Zoomify preview at Studio Ztampf! to better glimpse how ztampfilicious they are! And I’ve decided to run the Early Birds Special a bit longer – so go ahead at grab this set now at 20% OFF!

The finished size of each pocket is 3.5″ wide x 6.5″ tall. Just insert your photos/add your own greetings, then print, trim and glue together (or use double-sided sticky tape or tape gun) – quick and easy with gorgeous results that sure to impress everyone who receive them! Simple Instruction is provided with the kit. Tips: You can also crop the front part and use it as a mini card/pages!

Warning: the actual set shows so much more ztampfilicious details than the preview images shown above!

The Chinese Greetings on the pockets read:
– “Gong Xi Fat Chai” means: “Congratulations and be prosperous” the most common greetings used for Chinese New Year (also known as Spring Festival).
– “Xinnian Kuaile” means: “Happy New Year”

All PNG format created at 300dpi for optimum print out quality.
Comments? Questions? Just contact me anytime!

So… As you see now, I have just made some changes to Ztampfilicious Blog :). The design has never been changed from the day this blog went live in 2007. It’s about time for a new look, don’t you think? Well, here it is!

I’d like to keep the free-flowing feel from the previous look, so I decided to use is as the base and then changed the color scheme, images and tweaked some details and coding as well. Tell me how do you like this new look!

New to Ztampfilicious Blog? Here’s how the old one looked like – which one do you like better?

Chinese New Year is just around the corner at February 3rd!

Send beautiful Chinese New Year cards uniquely personalized with your own photos and message to your friends and relatives! It is easy with this CNY 2011 QuickCards Set from Studio Ztampf!: 3 Designs (Cover+Inner) plus a Postcard Back. These are 2-sided tent-fold cards which you can either print on both sides of your paper, or print the inner part on a thinner fine paper then glue the spine to the fold of the front part! You can also use these cards as postcards with the included Postcard Back (just crop the front part). You can choose to have the inner part with or without photos too. Of course, you can also use these to create eCards to send online :).

The size of the cards is 5″x7″ – folded. 2 in landscape, 1 in portrait. 3 front designs: 2 in landscape, 1 in portrait – with matching inner designs, plus 2 extra options. A Postcard Back is also provided. JPG and PNG format. All created at 300dpi for optimum print out result. Questions? Comments? Just contact me anytime!

P.S. Now I am working on a set of unique, personalizable Hong Bao Set like this one – for the Year of The Rabbit!

Are you using an iPhone? Well, good news! Me too! Now you can instantly scrap any photos you took with your iPhone on your iPhone and then share it on Facebook or by email straight away! How?

Check out this neat little Tapn Scrap App! It’s not Photoshop for sure, but it’s pretty cool – and it does the job well enough for a quick digiscrapping once you got the hang of it. (And it’s not hard to get there!). This $1.99 app comes with some free supplies such as basic backgrounds and elements so you can scrap straight away. But if you are a seasoned digiscrapper, you wouldn’t be satisfy with those basic stuff. Worry not! Just go to their Store from within the Tapn Scrap App itself! You will find a listing of kits in alphabetical order with a small thumbnail of the kit’s preview. Tap on it, you’ll get to read the short description and see a larger preview underneath (sometimes it takes a while for the larger preview to appear). If you like what you see, then tap “Buy”! The price ranges from just $0.99 to $3.99 – very wallet-friendly!

I have 3 kits available there now – all has been adjusted and customized for the iPhone. More will be added soon so watch out for them! My first 3 kits there are: “Appliquette No.3“, “Snow Country” and “FireWorks Background” – perfect for the Holiday Seasons!

And here are my very first two layouts done with the Tapn Scrap App on my iPhone this Christmas Eve, while waiting for dinner to be ready:

Oh and I am so excited that my “Appliquette No.3” and “Snow Country” are now on the top two best sellers there! They have only been released several days ago! :D

The Holiday Season is Here! Here we go again – another year is swiftly flying towards its end. It has been a tough year for most of us, but there were a lot of joy and bright moments too! I hope it has been at least an interesting one – if not a wonderful one for you! Here’s to a joyful and peaceful Holiday Season and for a better, brighter 2011! Have you been to Studio Ztampf! lately? you’ll love the new Splattering Paint ARTiStrokes – express your various moods ztampfiliciously! It is versatile for sooo… many themes and projects:

If you like cooking, you will be delighted with the latest addition to Studio Ztampf!: It is a set of 8.5″x11″ QuickPages plus some matching supplies intended for creating beautiful Recipe Pages and Cards effortlessly to be made into photo books for gifting. You may include a little story about the recipe, what makes it special, how you came across it or anything else that you like to share about the recipe. Extensive Category Labels are provided, which includes specific diets such as ‘Low Fat’, ‘Low Cal’, ‘Dairy Free’, ‘Sugar Free’, ‘Gluten Free’, ‘Vegan’ and such – beside the standard ‘Appetizer’, ‘Main’, ‘Meat’, ‘Poultry’, etc. The themes of the QuickPages are suitable for various holiday from Thanksgiving to Passover to Hanukkah to Christmas to New Year. Some are even neutral enough for any occasions including birthday or simply daily recipes. Like most Ztampf! kits, this set is versatile for other uses too, such as for Holiday Letters, Letters to Santa, Holiday Cards and scrapbooking pages. Find out more about this set and what the Z!Girls have created with it here! What’s more: when you purchase this Holiday Recipe Set, you will receive a secret link in your download to get “The Best Recipe Organizer” software at an exclusive, super saving deal at only $4.95 instead of the regular $21.95! A set of Ztampfilicious Bonus is yours too when you purchase this software! Now, is this a great deal or not? And, remember that The Every Little Bit Counts collection will only be available until the last week of December. 100% of the profits will then be donated to the Sick Kids Hospital Foundation. It is is an eclectic collection of unique elements, ranging from classic to quirky and everything in between. For only $5 you will receive 87 unique digital elements. You will also receive your own digital print drawer converted to a 12 x 12 size, with back removed as a separate layer for easy element placement. Plus, as an added bonus you will also receive a really fun Photoshop action that will automatically insert your choice of elements into the print tray drawer. It is such a steal for such a worthy cause! So don’t procastinate: get it now! But don’t forget to come back here for your special discount coupon! So! Have you purchased the The Every Little Bit Counts collection now? Thank you very much and Welcome Back! Just in case you missed hearing about the fantastic SBG Santa Brings Goodies Blog Train, head over to the Twelfth Day Goodies from me for you and to hop into the train to collect more goodies from the amazingly talented Studio Girls! It’s something that you wouldn’t want to miss ever, trust me!

Oh and we have more than 500 fans at Ztampf! Facebook now thanks to you all! This means every one of you will receive an exclusive mini kit soon! Just be patient :). But of course, this doesn’t mean that you have to stop spreading the word about it either ;). Thank you! Yes, yes, yes, the promised Discount Coupon! Here it is: Take 25% OFF your next purchase at Studio Ztampf! with coupon code dezemberist. Valid for anything in my studio through end of this year! Wait! I have another thing for you! A free gift, yes! Download it from this hidden page HERE. Enjoy! Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and Brilliant New Year to you and yours!

Ztampfest | Ztampfever | Ztampfaqs | Behind The Scenes | Studio Ztampf! | Facebook | Twitter | Blog

The Mini is Here!

It has been an extermely busy time with so many unexpected happenings and hurdles came my way. That’s why this month’s Ztampfever is so late! But… better late than never! Many of you have been waiting so patiently for the Mini-Vertical CraftyCalendar 2011 Kit. I thank you for your patience – really appreciate it! Please welcome it now then:

As usual, it comes with various versatile goodies for the ultimate customization of your super special calendars that you can use for many other uses as well. The Seasonal Charms include the ones for Chinese New Year, Valentine/anniversary, Easter, Idul Fitri, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and Winter. A few of you have been asking for more of the expressive Soaring Strokes ARTiStrokes as well. Sorry for the delay; I have been working on it and it is almost ready – so watch out for it ;). Also available is the Ztampf! CraftyCalendar 2010 – Large Version in various languages: This time I have not just one, but two coupons for you! Yes! The first one is 30% OFF Discount good for any of the Ztampf! Calendar Kits: ztampfcal30 The second one is 20% OFF Discount good for any of Ztampf! products: ztampfever61 Both coupons valid through December 20th 2010 – don’t miss using them! If you haven’t done your bit in this season of love, caring and giving, or wanting to give just a little bit more – then check this out. Remember: Every Little Bit Counts!

Aaand… Remember to tell all your fellow Ztampf! lovers to join Ztampf!@ Facebook. When we reach 500 fans, every single member of Ztampf! @Facebook will receive an Exclusive Mini Kit not available anywhere else! We are getting closer so go on and invite your fellow Ztampf!lovers to hit this Like Button   and bring them all to Ztampf! @Facebook. Enjoy your Coupons! I hope you will enjoy creating your CraftyCalendars too. Watch out for the Global English Version (weeks start on Monday) and the CD Calendar Kit coming up soon too! Ztampfest | Ztampfever | Ztampfaqs | Behind The Scenes | Studio Ztampf! | Facebook | Twitter | Blog

 

 

Yay! See what Maya of SBG has organized…

The season of giving, gratitude and joy upon us. It is also often a very busy and hectic time of the year, creating a challenge for those of us with lengthy To-Do lists. However, no matter how busy we all get, it really is important to remember that when it comes to charity, Every Little Bit Counts.

To demonstrate this simple truth, a call went out across the digital community to designers everywhere inviting them each to contribute only one element to a charity collaboration for the Sick Kids Foundation.

The end result is an eclectic collection of unique elements, ranging from classic to quirky and everything in between.

For only $5 you will receive…

…87 unique digital elements. You will also receive your own digital print drawer converted to a 12 x 12 size, with back removed as a separate layer for easy element placement. Plus, as an added bonus you will also receive a really fun Photoshop action that will automatically insert your choice of elements into the print tray drawer. That’s more than your money’s worth, plus, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that the money you used to purchase the collection will go directly towards helping Sick Children.

The Every Little Bit Counts collection will only be available until the last week of December. 100% of the profits will then be donated to the Sick Kids Hospital Foundation.

Find out how you can receive this very special collection for only $5 and let your little bit count towards this very worthy cause. Thank you very much in advance!

Time really does not wait for anyone! Halloween is just around the corner – are you ready for it? What do you plan for it? I plan to make a set of wings from copper wire-mesh together with my elder step-daughter once I’m back in Hong Kong! I’ll be sure to take pictures to share with you later :).

Meanwhile… have you checked Studio Ztampf! for Halloween goodies? Host a Halloween party? Need a quick and easy and yet unique and beautiful costume for it? Well, check out the Masqueradia Print’N Cut! It is a set of 6 printable masks that are great for children and adults alike:

See them in action on me:

The Ghostown Series is perfect to scrap your Halloween photos with its luscious gothic flavour for spooky and yet elegant Halloween – combined with the fun ghost overlays:

Also available as Separate Packs:

Talking about overlays, have you got the popular Lumoz Overlay Set? It provides you with no less than 16 full-page overlays to add that fun and cool, luminous ghostly creatures to your projects with timeless, eerie appeal. Check it out now:

Love the glow-in-the-dark look of Lumoz? Well, take a look at Nocturn Delights… it is full of luminous delights in an atmosphere of magic and mystery, wonderful for non-scary Halloween photos:

Nocturn Delights Package Saving is also available which consists of the Nocturn Delights Kit, Nocturn Delights Ensembles and Nocturn Delights Album:

Looking for something cute for children? Just get this Appliquettes No.2:

And this versatile and artsy Gothikology ARTiStrokes has just been made available to Studio Ztampf! For this weekend only (through October 31st), this set is available at 33% off, that is only $1.99 for 12 unique ARTiStrokes, each is provided in 3 different finishes – that is 36 pieces total! What a great deal! Don’t miss it:

And finally… if you haven’t seen my latest Halloween offering… please say hello to the Haunting Pirates – not for the faint of heart though! Your teenagers and the young spirited would love this series with the cool looking skeletons and cutlass and cobweb and all… Ready?

Now, this Haunting Pirates Package Saving is the best deal: not only you’ll get the whole series at a Discounted Price, you’ll also get an exclusive Bonus Pack filled with versatile goodies:

Separate Packs are also available:

Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and grab your loot from the Halloween Section of Studio Ztampf! now!